In short, today’s hearing was very short! This is a paraphrase of the conversation:

Judge “did you know about this in June?”

Our attorney “yes.”

Judge “and you sat on it until now and ask for an ex parte? Dismissed.”

The
judge made no ruling on the merits or legal arguments of the case. We
are not at all disappointed. Assuming the Board of Supervisors does not
reverse course, we view this as the first step in the process. We will
return to court as quickly as we can to file another action. We
understand, the County will hold the FP-5 hearing on Tuesday morning at
10:00 AM. We encourage all that can to participate. Attend the hearing
and speak your mind. We will keep you informed.

Message from one of the Coalition Attorney’s:

In
my opinion, the ruling today in the Red Brennan case, denying the
motion EX PARTE for a Temporary Restraining Order, is in no way any
cause to be despondent. Tomy Murphy and Chuck Bell have made a
wonderful effort on the part of our fellow citizens, and every one of us
is immensely grateful for their ongoing battle to achieve justice
here. Their efforts are wonderful, and their voice IS being
heard far and wide. Probably the Judge was technically correct in
denying the use of the EX PARTE procedure, but this has NOTHING to do
with the MERITS of the case. Even though the Judge overlooked the fact
that we could not have “known about this in June” when the Notice was
only sent out on September 15th, this is just a bump in the road,
nothing serious. All the Judge was saying is that such an important
question as The Red Brennan Group et al. raise, should not be
adjudicated using the incredibly time-pressured parameters of the
streamlined ex parte hearing, but rather should be adjudicated in a
fully-noticed hearing where it can be fully briefed. So, we can just
dust ourselves off from this first foray into battle, and ready
ourselves for further battles to come. No war is won without losing a
few skirmishes along the way, so in this big picture the outcome today
may sound full of sound and fury but this hiccup along the road means
nothing. The real battle is still to come.Betty Munson

Share with: San Bernardino County Sentinel Posted on August 27, 2016 by Venturi The ignominious demise of Theatre 29 is much exaggerated, one of its board members told the Sentinel this week. Theatre 29 is a community theatre presenting entertainment since its founding in 1999 and is dedicated, according to its mission statement, “to bring quality, family-oriented theater to Twentynine Palms while offering opportunities for our children and citizens to experience the live arts.” Recently, however there have been recurrent reports that the live performance venue was beset with fraud, mismanagement and the misappropriation of public funds. Because there has...